We returned home yesterday from a 2-week vacation, most of which was spent in Surfside Beach SC. We left sunny skies and much warmer temperatures to come home to a winter storm advisory. About an hour after our return home, it started to snow.
This is what we awakened to this morning.
This is what Winter is supposed to look like in NW Pennsylvania. This is the most snow that we have received at home (Warren PA) this Winter season. I am thankful that we didn’t have to drive in the snow, while it was falling!
I will be providing details and photographs of our South Carolina vacation soon. Those posts will be backdated and will take place over the next couple of weeks.
On Thursday, March 2, We ate breakfast at Golden Egg Pancake House, located about a mile from our Airbnb rental. Breakfast was good. I ordered a Belgian waffle with strawberries and whipped topping. Bob ordered scrambled eggs, home fries, bacon and French Toast. After breakfast, we returned to our rental.
We ate lunch at our rental, making use of any leftovers.
We ate dinner at River City Cafe in Surfside Beach. We walked there from our rental. Bob ordered a burger, onion rings and coleslaw. I ordered a grilled ham and cheese sandwich, French fries and coleslaw. Dinner was delicious.
After dinner, we started packing in preparation for checking out of our rental the next morning.
We finished packing the morning of Friday, March 3.
Our Airbnb rental “Nanny & Pops” Front View
Our Airbnb rental “Nanny & Pops” Back View
We sure enjoyed our stay at “Nanny & Pops”. The beach cottage was cozy and felt like home from the moment we walked inside.
Our time at “Nanny & Pops” had come to an end; however, our stay at the beach is not over. We are moving to our friends’ condo at One Ocean Place for 2 nights. Marge and Neil asked us to stay with them so that we could attend “Taste of the MarshWalk” at Murrells Inlet on Saturday.
Conway is located a little less than 20 miles from Surfside Beach, and we had not been there before. We decided to visit Conway the morning of Wednesday, March 1.
En route Conway, we ate breakfast at The Breakfast House in Socastee. Bob had an omelette with hash browns and rye toast. I had a Belgian Waffle with blueberries, one egg and bacon. The Breakfast House is a great little place with very good food and a friendly staff.
We arrived in Conway shortly before 9:00 am. I had read on the Internet that the Conway Riverwalk was a historic walking trail and that it is the oldest thoroughfare in Conway. The Riverwalk was our destination.
We accessed the Riverwalk from 2nd Avenue, just off US 501.
The trail started out on a paved walkway.
Soon a boardwalk replaced the paved trail.
The Riverwalk follows alongside the meandering Waccamaw River.
The Waccamaw River is a blackwater river. Blackwater rivers are usually slow-moving and found around the swamplands of the southern U.S. Blackwater rivers are stained by the decaying plant matter in the water.
On the right of the boardwalk is what remains of an old warehouse that was used by steamboats in the 1880s, I believe.
Looking back toward the warehouse
Looking back at Waccamaw River
According to information read on the Internet, the Riverwalk is about 1.5 miles round trip. We left the trail at Laurel Street. We didn’t see any directional signs telling us where to go to continue the Riverwalk. So we turned right and walked into downtown Conway. Conway is an 18th-century town. Much of the area is listed in the National Registry of Historic Places. The town features mostly small brick buildings, some dating back to the early 1820s.
Laurel Street Fountain We turned right at this fountain and walked to downtown Conway.
As we got our feel for where we were in relationship to where we had parked our car, we stumbled upon City Hall.
Conway City Hall
We returned to our car about 9:30 am. We had thought our visit to Conway would be longer than 30 minutes. We decided at this time to drive to Georgetown, which was located approximately 40 miles south of Conway.
We arrived in Georgetown an hour later. We parked along Front Street and walked the Harborwalk from the Kaminski House Museum to the Rice Museum/Town Clock. The waterfront 10-foot-wide and four-block-long boardwalk is alongside the Sampit River.
This is one entry point for the Harborwalk.
I took this picture of the Harborwalk near its entry point at the Rice Museum/Town Clock.
We visited Georgetown last year, too, and walked the Harborwalk. If you click on the “last year” link, you will see pictures that I took last year. All along the Harborwalk are signs to not feed the alligators. As we did last year, we looked for alligators. We didn’t see any alligators again this year.
We did see a few turtles.
We spent about 30 minutes in Georgetown. Again, we thought our visit to Georgetown would be longer. I want a do-over for both Conway and Georgetown. Next year we plan to return to both Conway and Georgetown, but later in the day. Both towns have restaurants that we would like to try. We would also like to tour the Kaminski House Museum and the Rice Museum in Georgetown as well. And, yes, you heard right … NEXT YEAR. Our reservation for “Nanny & Pops” is already on the books!
Leaving Georgetown we took U.S. 17 north to Murrells Inlet, where we ate lunch at Judy Boone’s Traditions Family Kitchen. Lunch was an all-you-can-eat buffet. Neither of us eat as heartily as we used to do. The buffet was $10.99 each, which was reasonable. We got our money’s worth. After lunch we returned to “Nanny & Pops”, our Airbnb rental.
Around 4:15 pm we went for a walk on “our beach”. It was high tide. We walked from “Nanny & Pops” to the 1st Ave public beach access and on the beach to Melondy Lane public beach access, a distance of approximately 1.1 miles.
1st Ave public beach access
Approaching Melondy Lane public beach access The tall building is One Ocean Place, the location of our friends Marge and Neil’s condo that they were renting.
My knee was hurting, and I didn’t think I would be able to walk back to “Nanny & Pops”. Bob walked back to the rental, via the roadway not the beach. He got the car and came after me. While I was waiting for Bob’s return, I messaged Marge. She saw me from her balcony at One Ocean Place. We waved at each other.
We spent the morning and early afternoon of Tuesday, February 28, with our friends Neil and Marge.
We played 2 hours (10:00 am-12:00 pm) at Topgolf Myrtle Beach and then went to lunch at Paula Deen’s Family Kitchen.
It was the first time any of us had played at Topgolf. Bob, Neil and Marge had experience playing on a golf course. I had not played golf before. A bay host helped set up our game and create profiles for each player. We chose Topgolf Practice, which was similar to golfing at a driving range. In this beginners game, players score points by hitting golf balls into any target. The more accurate your shot and the farther the distance, the more points you earn. Using Topgolf’s complimentary clubs, we took aim at the giant outfield targets and the high-tech balls scored themselves. I created a short video of the four of us hitting a golf ball into “the green”.
The SLO-MO option on an iPhone was used to capture each hit.
At the end of our golf game, a scoreboard displayed our individual scores.
Bob was top scorer. Not surprisingly, I was the low scorer.
We chose the golf day well. Tuesday was a 1/2 price day. Our golf bay rental cost $30 for 2 hours. Topgolf was a great new experience for all four of us!
After Topgolf, we had a delicious lunch at Paula Deen’s Family Kitchen. Both Topgolf and Paula Deen’s were located at Broadway at the Beach complex. This was the menu at Paula Deen’s.
We chose “The Savannah” Family Style Dining selection. The three down home dishes we chose were: Best Ever Southern Fried Chicken, Georgia Fried Catfish and Jambalaya. We chose Green Beans, Creamed Potatoes, Fresh Candied Yams and Baked Macaroni and Cheese for our sides. For dessert Marge and I chose Peach Cobbler; Neil and Bob chose Ooey Gooey Butter Cake. Lunch was delicious.
After lunch we returned to our our Airbnb rental. Neil and Marge hopped into their car and drove the short distance to their condo. It was a very nice day spent with friends.
On the morning of Monday, February 27, we drove to Broadway at the Beach, located less than 15 miles from our Surfside Beach Airbnb rental “Nannie & Pops”. Broadway at the Beach is a shopping center and entertainment complex located in Myrtle Beach. It sits on 350 acres in the heart of Myrtle Beach and features three theaters, over 20 restaurants and over 100 specialty shops as well as attractions, clubs for the night, and hotels, all surrounding the 23-acre Lake Broadway.
When we arrived at Broadway at the Beach, very few, if any, of the shops, restaurants or attractions were open. This fact was fine with us, as we came to walk, not to eat or shop. And walk we did! We walked all around Lake Broadway, which is at least a 2 mile walk. I took lots of pictures during our walk, which I share with you in the slideshow that follows.
The morning was foggy and cool. At 12:00 noon the fog still had not lifted. The temperature was only 58 degrees. Once the fog lifted, the sun came out. It warmed up to about 65 degrees.
Late in the afternoon we went for a walk on “our beach”.
We went for a walk at Surfside Beach.
I love the light at the beach, as the sun is setting behind me.
We visited Brookgreen Gardens for the third time on Sunday, February 26. Our first stop was in the Rosen Galleries, in which is featured an exhibition of some of Auguste Rodin’s best-known sculptures. Leaving the Rosen Galleries, we meandered through the gardens admiring the outdoor sculptures, flowers, and flowering shrubs and trees. I shared a number of pictures of flowers, trees and sculptures in my previous blog post. This blog post will complete our visit to Brookgreen Gardens.
“Pegasus” by Laura Gardin Fraser
“Pegasus” is the largest sculpture at Brookgreen Gardens.
“Pegasus” and me
“Joy” by Karl Heinrich Gruppe
“Triton on Dolphin” by Benjamin Franklin Hawkins
“Lioness and Cub” by Hope Yanell
“Actaeon” by Paul Howard Manship
“The Tortoise Train” by W. Stanley Proctor
We obtained directions from a helpful garden steward to the Grainger McCoy Exhibit. Apparently, we walked right by the exhibit a couple times!
“Wilson’s Snipe” by Grainger McCoy
”Two Mallards” by Grainger McCoy
“Clapper Rails” by Grainger McCoy
I took only a few pictures, as the bird sculptures were behind glass and difficult to photograph without reflections destroying the beauty of the sculptures.
“The Guardian” by Sahl Swarz
“Len Ganeway” by Derek Wernher
This was the last day that we visited Brookgreen Gardens. Our tickets were still good for 2 days. Later in the day we stopped at our friends Marge and Neil’s condo and dropped off two tickets to the gardens. Marge and Neil planned to visit Brookgreen Gardens the next day.
We visited Brookgreen Gardens for the third time on Sunday, February 26. Our first stop was in the Rosen Galleries, in which is featured an exhibition of some of Auguste Rodin’s best-known sculptures. Leaving the Rosen Galleries, we meandered through the gardens admiring the outdoor sculptures, flowers, and flowering shrubs and trees.
I took the following pictures near the Welcome Plaza and Keepsakes Museum Shop.
Brookgreen Gardens Flowers
Brookgreen Gardens Flowers
Brookgreen Gardens Flowers
“The Peacocks” by Dan Ostermiller
Allow your eyes to follow the garden path, and you will see a glimpse of the next art piece that I photographed.
This art piece was seen along the garden path adorned with twin peacocks.
Moving away from the Welcome Center and the Keepsakes Museum Shop we arrived at the first two sculptures that I photographed.
“The Visionaires” by Anna Hyatt Huntington
“Diana of the Chase” by Anna Hyatt Huntington
From “Diana of the Chase” we entered Live Oak Allee.
Live Oak Allee Entrance
Live Oak Allee
Live Oak Allee I love the Spanish moss hanging off the live oak branches.
Live Oak Allee ends near the sculpture of Dionysus.
“Dionysus” by Edward Francis McCartan
To the left of “Dionysus” is the Old Kitchen, which offers sandwiches, wraps, quiche, salads, desserts, beverages, and light refreshments.
the Old Kitchen
the Old Kitchen Garden
a Garden Path near the Old Kitchen
While meandering through Brookgreen Gardens we pulled out a map of the gardens several times. We wanted to see as much of the gardens as we could, without doing much backtracking. It was at the Old Kitchen that we realized we had missed a couple sculptures back towards the Welcome Center. So we backtracked a little bit.
“Diana” by Augustus Saint-Gaudens
“The Fountain of the Muses” by Carl Milles
Brookgreen Gardens Flowers
Brookgreen Gardens flowers
This is a good place to end this blog post, right before we visit the largest sculpture at Brookgreen Gardens. I will wrap up our Brookgreen Gardens visit in my next blog post.
The Beauty Around Us 